I've written a series of four lesbian detective novels, unimaginatively called, "The Detective Series." They are available for your purchasing pleasure on amazon.com in paperback and Kindle versions and on bn.com for Nook. In addition, I like sunsets, single malt scotch, and some other thing that starts with the letter S. This blog gets updated once a week or so and usually has something to do with my experiences as a writer.

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I am SO EXCITED about starting book #4 this Friday that I'm practically giddy, and I'm not a giddy sort of girl. I don't know how I'm going to do it. I've got a lot of stuff going on, and besides all of that, family obligations will only mount as the holidays approach, but I'm going full steam ahead. My partner is supportive of me, but I wouldn't say she's exactly happy. Is that stopping me? Nope. You don't want to be married to me! Because I don't care about your feelings! I'm a jerk!

My outline feels more solid and developed than any outline I've ever come up with before. I still wouldn't call it detailed, but I definitely have a path to follow. I've decided to "pay attention" to this pacing frame which I read about on Writer Unboxed over the summer (it's about halfway down that post). I say "pay attention" because I'm not going to hold myself to it rigidly, but I am going to reference it and think about it as I move through the book. It's sure to have an impact. (And by the way, should you read that Writer Unboxed post in its entirety, I'm not going to do what that author does for her first drafts. I'm just "paying attention" to the frame she writes about.)

As I've approached writing this final book in the series, my enthusiasm has gone up and down. Before I started book #3, I was already thinking about book #4, and a big part of me wanted to skip over book #3 and get right to #4. But I sucked it up and wrote #3, and then after I was done, I had the opposite experience. I was no longer excited at all about book #4. That worried me a bit, so I am quite relieved that it's come back around again, and I'm ready to go.

It's always good before the writing begins to remind oneself about what is about to happen. To wit, I'm bringing out the novel chart again:

So hey, I've got the greatest idea I've ever had, and I can't wait to get to it. This is it. THE LAST BOOK. The story will conclude this time, the whole shebang. I can't even imagine what that will feel like. And this time, I'm bound to skip over that "dark night of the soul" part, right?

RIGHT?

As an aside, Tamara requested in the comments to my last post that she'd be interested in me posting my daily word count again. I had mixed feelings about the reaction to that the last time I did it. What do you think? For or against it?

I agree about "paying attention" to the pacing frame without following it. I'm always suspicious of those sorts of guidelines, since there are a lot of different ways to tell a story.

And, yes, the novel chart. Important to remember, though I think I did read somewhere that the "dark night of the soul" doesn't apply to novel #4. (Give me a few minutes and then you can check Wikipedia about that. :-) )

I have no strong feelings about the word count widget. Right now, my main focus is on getting rid of words (I almost did a little dance when I got my WIP from ~400 pages down to ~300), so I certainly won't take it personally.

Kristan, You're right. It is NaNoWriMo so people are word count exhibitionists at the moment. I've decided that I will post my word counts, but I'm going to do it on its own page. Then people who are interested in it can click over, and people who couldn't care less or could feel hatred will never see it.

Anthony, Book #4s are exempt from dark nights of the soul? That is fantastic news! I've decided to take you on your word for that and NOT click over to Wikipedia to investigate. I think it's better that way. ;)

Downith, Well, you know that everybody's looking forward to the weekend, weekend. That's reason enough to be giddy!

Tamara, It will be interesting to see if the NaNoWriMo hoopla gets to me or not. I definitely felt part of the 3DNC community, and it was a great feeling--one of the best parts of the experience--but since I'm not actually participating in NaNoWriMo, I'll be curious to see the effect it has on me.

Averil, Oh sweetie, I'm sorry to hear that you're at the hard part. I get through it by steely determination and an insistence that the book is not going to "win." I'm not sure what that means, but it works for me. In 30 days, you'll definitely be through it and on the up slope.

okay your blog just ate my comment (bad blog...sit...stay) so I'm going to make this one short because I'm lazy (and not too concerned about the word count of my blog comments..hehe) I see that yesterday with well for you...I'm going to have to check back here frequently just to really wallow in slimy angsty jealousy that you write so quickly. I'm a writer, after all, so I'm a sucker for punishment.

Melissa, I put the word count link all the way at the top of the page so that it could be easily ignored by those who wish to do so. If you know that seeing my word count will cause you pain and yet you click on that link anyway, that's all on you, babycakes!

And my blog is an evil, comment eating bitch. The thing to remember is that you can only "revise comment" TWO times. That's it. On the third attempt, it's gone.